MOSCOW – Russia’s upper house of parliament ratified the new US nuclear disarmament treaty Wednesday, the final step in approving the first nuclear pact between the two former Cold War rivals in 20 years.
Senators at the Federation Council voted unanimously to approve the new START treaty, which US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed in Prague on April 8, 2010.
The new Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) reduces old warhead ceilings by 30 percent and limits each side to 700 deployed long-range missiles and heavy bombers.
Russia’s State Duma lower house of parliament backed the measure in the third and final reading on Tuesday and the US Senate ratified the pact after a months-long debate on December 22.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hailed the vote as “good news for international security and stability.” His message was backed by Mikhail Margelov, the Federation Council’s international affairs committee chief who was one of the pact’s principal backers in Russia. “The START agreement verifies the trust between the two sides,” he said after the vote.
